I was pleased you referred to arithmetic, and agree, apparently from first hand experience, that Alien Physics will be different, but apparently not just as physical properties differ. You write; "Even an omnipotent creator cannot defy the laws of arithmetic, nor can he create any new arithmetic." But have you considered that we may not be correctly using numbers to model the processes of nature?
As an example I give the infinite hierarchical structure of propositional logic as entirely following the infinite hierarchical structure of the rules of brackets. Those aliens seem convinced that what we call 'IRF's' are entirely equivalent to bracketed functions, so 'c' can only be valid and computed INTERNALLY. Only a final 'product' can then be computed with the 'next function out' in the 'sub-proposition' sequence, or brackets. I found that works perfectly, (so do the aliens, who also identify other 'incompletions'!) but it's NOT as current doctrine!
Nice essay, well argued, but is it entirely a complete argument?
Can Science be different? Maths says "NO'
Donald Palmer
"We know about Complex numbers, yet we do not have a numeric system capable of representing them (as single values)"
I think it is possible to represent complex numbers as single values: if we have z=x+iy than I can represent z as a 4-vector (y,x). Component y is time representative of the complex number and this component is alays orthogonal to the space comonent x in a Minkowski vectoriel space. In physcics component y can represent the energy of a corpuscle and component x represent its momentum. We can take it in other manner component y is the mean position of a corpuscle referred to a constant of measurement (or a meshing or a scale) and when this component is so great it tends to a constant i.e a new mathematics of numbers began.
Minkowski space is euclidian space (or flat space), we can generalize complex numbers to be repressented in a curved space and this will be totatlly new: what is the physical implications ? perhaps we can represent spin, electric charge, color...etc of a particle.
Charles St Pierre
"So, when does history end and math begin? Or is religion in the math, too? Then we have the math predicts religion
But: Only nothing real in the way of objects of worship? Surely, if everything is just math, then the existence and nature of God should be in the equations."
Math is based on thinking and writing logical equations, religion can't be in the math. Religion is based on faith "what is true". If God should be in the equations than it is not possible because God is infinite but equations are in our finite mind.
The question is what is science?
Physical science deals with everything measured in time, lenght and energy using math models. Religion is revelation from God and this revelation is another measuring system for our behaviour. I can say that religion is the continuous part of physics so it is SCIENCE in it general definition.
Lorraine Ford Numbers are categories. suppose we take some finite group, (to simplify,) and multiply its action by a scalar. Then the action described by the group will be different if the scalar divides the order of the group or some subgroup, than if it did not. So if we iterate the group, take sequential powers of the group, but also sequential powers of the scalar, modulo the order. Hmm. Action must be between distinguishable states. Else only one possibility.
Permutation group all points distinguished, thus well ordered matrix and operations. Yes, can permute rows and columns. A superposition of all possible actions. So... Permutation group symmetric under matrix operations. (Hypothesis?) All points distance one. But how does this project into a three space.? One dimension cannot change by itself.
One of the amazing things about the dictionary is that, in a sense, it spans the space of all possible knowledge. We can only define words in terms of other words, and all the words, certainly all the shared words, are in the dictionary conceptually speaking. the words all define each other. They're all defined by other words.
Unfortunately, lacking the inclusion of more primal sounds and concepts, it is rather dry.
Which brings me to Serle's Room.
cristi marcovici Suppose you had a millions years of memories, each moment as vivid as the moment you are in now. OK. Amaranth Lion. Got it.? Put yourself in the picture. You're the guy with a million years of memories, every moment as vivid as the one you are in now. Got it, Amaranth Lion?
Also, statistics are like that. You have to make (statistical) sense of things that are a lot more jaggedity than are shown in your textbooks.
Also, I think economists are taught that the economy is some sort of a (Money is Power?) perpetual motion machine in Econ 101. There's this picture in every one of them
Charles St Pierre
In the real physical world, symbols representing real-world numbers are obtained when people measure a category like mass or velocity, and write down a symbol representing the real-world number. These real physical world categories are things that only exist in relationship to other such categories. In the real physical world, numbers are not categories: categories are the things you measure to obtain a number.
However, there is an awful lot of fictional nonsense that goes on in people’s imaginations. And isn’t this a big problem these days? That people can't distinguish what is real and what isn’t real? E.g., people can’t even tell that there is a difference between mathematics and numbers which only exist in the imagination, and the real physical world "out there" with its lawful relationships and numbers which are represented mathematically.
Charles St Pierre
Fake news and alternative facts: at least one can say that they are interpretations of the real physical world, but still tethered to the real physical world. But the same can’t be said for mathematics and numbers: they are not tethered to the real physical world, and they exist nowhere but in the human imagination. The only real-world numbers that exist are the numbers that are obtained by measurement of the real physical world, where the real-world number is represented by a number symbol. Is it any wonder that fake news and alternative facts would proliferate in a world when STEM sets a very, very bad example, by being completely unable to distinguish between what exists in the real measurable physical world versus what only exists in the human imagination? Science/ STEM could be different if it started by admitting to a few facts about the real world.
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wild ideas should at least be discussed , interesting , a million year that's about the oldest arctic ice (that is currently under global warming influnce to melt down )
concerning power, i thought a little and i had the sketch of an idea maybe money should be like some kind of distributed interconnected ,with certain social behavior rules ,remote controls. such that persons can shut down / intrerrupt / pause/ verify to other person energy utilities supliers , a game to who consume less in various ways .
lets say living a million years is possible , zero waste with the most ecological footprint , there are other people and other risks increasingly dangerous that associated with any simple day to day activity , such that a person should do nothing in order for the million year to go over and just wait for the time to end . Charles St Pierre lets say it a cryo fridge with a camera in front that record everything , i have spent a large percent of my life in front of the screen , many hours a day, i could check my browser history vividly ,comparing it wont be that much of a different experience.
to an other extreme, let's say a single second is like a million years .
three points i want to ad not going to much beyond the scope of this situation, a) when a coincidence happen stop and listen as if time is frozen try to make other correlations, to learn or recapitulate b) if an object can be recycled a couple of times maybe the same can be done with memories more or less randomly . c) in the language i speak there is more or less conventional say/ expression present in spoken dialogues , that ties telling the truth with your own or other person mortality .
maybe the conversation between people can go in time width as opposed to in time length
Martin Rees , an space physicist, say that it will not be human that would reach other places like galaxies, quasars or further at the universe edges. i want to Knill all the people.
Rebeca
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KhakiHeron
I believe we can find a mechanism to represent complex values as single values - and I agree it likely is related to vectors. The example you give, however, remains with real values (x,y) and not a single value z - which could be thought of as the scalar value of the vector (which cannot end up as x+iy, as this is two real values and not a single complex value).
AquamarineJellyfish & CornflowerCicada
Whole numbers are abstractions - what is common to all single objects, what is common to all pairs of objects. Much of mathematics uses abstractions - what is common to all algebraic equations of the second order. Geometry can be more or less the same - what is common to all line segments, what is common to all squares, to all triangles. The geometry, arithmetic, and equations of math are statements about any object or concept that fits the abstraction. The equation of a pendulum is very similar to that of a vibrating string, or of a wave. The equation is about any abstraction of the concepts - which is why the pendulum equation can be applied to the pendulum, the vibrating string and a wave. Each physical system can be abstracted so that it fits the equation (maybe with some additional values or constants). The fact that the equations need to be tweaked to fit the reality is because no physical event exactly matches the abstraction.
The power of mathematics comes from this ability to abstract - and the equations can apply exactly to the abstracted situation. When applied to physical events, we can take an event and find that it is like the abstracted situation. As with the pendulum, string, and wave, we can find multiple events that abstract to the same (basic) equation. There are always differences between the physical event and the abstracted situation - always (we never get the exact values for every event that is represented by an equation). So mathematics is good at abstracted situations, it is only good to some degree of error when applied to a physical event.
Then there is the consideration of the symbols used for values, for the equations - for being able to communicate an abstract concept between people. This includes the numeric representational system (e.g., Roman numerals, ratios, positional real numbers, powers, logs), infinitesimal symbols (e.g., dx/dy, Newton's symbols, epsilon-delta), vectors, or matrices - and other mathematical symbols. These can vary significantly between societies, cultures, aliens - as they are devised creations not inherent to some deterministic appearance. Mathematics cannot progress without these symbols - and mathematics has been prevented from advancing without the introduction of new devised symbols. Our calculus would be more difficult using Newton's symbols than Leibniz'. We could not have the technology we have using just Roman numerals or just fractions.
Science and mathematics are very co-dependent, although there are few abstract situations (aside from simple arithmetic e.g., 1apple+1apple=2apples) that exactly always matches physical events. And the inexactness, or error terms, leave wiggle room for interpretation of which equations (or tweaks) fit the experimental results.
Science has a number of historic paths that have not taken us down the always 'correct' (in hindsight) path. So I do not see science as deterministic (nor do I see mathematics as such - for symbolic reasons).
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Lorraine Ford So- OK Here's the thing. IF we assume mathematics to be closed and separate from the real world, then we should have no concept of number whatever. And maybe that's true. Anyway, the properties of numbers are indelible in the roots of physics. You can't have an equation without them. Even if they're only approximate.
Thank you for your helpful discussion CornflowerCicada Country folk know its a lot more economically efficient to undersell ideas and things, rather than oversell them. A lot of these 'colors' seem to represent something more variegated than some mere "hue." JBTW.
“Whole numbers are abstractions”
But where do these abstractions exist? Whole numbers, rational and irrational numbers, mathematics, and all the associated symbols, only exist from the point of view of the human imagination. This is not to deny the “power of mathematics”, where mathematical symbols can be used to represent the real-world numbers and the real-world relationships that physics has obtained and deduced from experiments (despite some degree of error in the numbers).
Re the counting numbers: the number of planets in the solar system is not an actual real-world property (“what is common to”) of a collection of planets, a property that actually exists “out there” in the world. The number of planets in the solar system is something that only exists from the point of view of the human imagination. When analysed, counting is a many-step process, performed by people and some other living things, which also involves: 1) the ability of the counter to define the category being counted (e.g. first, define a planet); and 2) the ability of the counter to identify the category being counted (e.g. second, does a particular celestial object fit the agreed-upon definition? Is Pluto a planet?).
But, as opposed to what exists in the human imagination, there are numbers that actually exist in the real physical world “out there”. When particular categories of the real physical world are measured, e.g. relative position or mass, one gets a number, and this number is represented via the use of a number symbol. So real physical world numbers exist “out there” as opposed to the numbers that only exist in the human imagination.
“The power of mathematics comes from this ability to abstract”,
i.e. the power of mathematics comes from: 1) the human ability to invent and comprehend symbols; and 2) the human ability to represent the real physical world, and even imaginary concepts, with symbols. So, I guess that I agree with you about symbols.
Charles St Pierre
I never “assume[d] mathematics to be closed and separate from the real world”. I’m just trying to say that there are things that only exist in the human imagination (like binary digits, which can’t be measured), as opposed to what exists “out there” in the world (like voltage, which can be measured).
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CornflowerCicada
I am not really a Platonist that believes abstractions exist outside of ourselves (the shadows on the cave wall that only shadows real existence outside the cave). I believe abstractions require some form of consciousness ('human imagination' works). This would apply to 'mass', 'distance', and other "physical world numbers" you refer to. These are all abstractions about the real world and so do not 'really' exist in the real world. We represent measurements about these concepts using symbols for the abstract concept of number.
I very much doubt 'mass' was a concept two thousand years ago. 'Weight' was likely a concept back then, but not the abstraction to 'mass'. So I fail to see how such abstract scientific concepts can be considered existing 'out there in the real world'.
It is quite an amazing thing that human imagination can generate a mental (some say 'internal') model of the world we perceive around us. Unless our minds work like the tents and suitcases in Harry Potter stories (that can be physically bigger inside than out), we build a mental model of the world we perceive that somehow fits into our minds. I find this only possible if the model is built with abstractions. And nothing of our abstract model exactly matches everything about the physical objects and reality we perceive.
This is another reason why mathematics cannot truly represent reality - it can, at best, only represent our mental abstract model of reality.
Donald Palmer
Yes, the mass and distance categories, and the numbers we use to represent them, are just words and symbols that we use to represent/ model something that exists “out there” in the real world.
But, in a world of “fake news” and “alternative facts”, fake realities that only exist in people’s minds, can science/physics be different? Can physics at least say what are the genuine characteristics of what exists “out there”?
I think that one characteristic is that the world “out there” is indeed inherently categorised, because logically, a coherent physical world can seemingly only exist if interconnections exist: categories that are connected via relationship to other such categories. But just saying that a category that we would label as “mass” exists, that seems to be genuinely related to other such categories, doesn’t tell you anything much: one needs actual numbers to make things more specific, numbers that we would represent with number symbols. Another consideration is that people and other living things, with their conscious imaginations, are a part of, not separate from, what exists “out there”.
You say: “I fail to see how such abstract scientific concepts can be considered existing 'out there in the real world'”. But would you say that there are any genuine characteristics of what exists “out there” in the real world?
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Lorraine Ford
Do I think that human understanding incorporates everything about anything 'out there'? I would say No. We hold an abstract model of what is 'out there', which only includes some characteristics of what is 'out there'. I would say that all categories we deal with are of human construction that deal with human questions and perspectives. The categories are dependent upon the questions asked and the perspectives involved. If I am considering the taxonomic categories of living entities, I am likely considering species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain. If I am considering categories of people with pets I like, then these taxonomic categories are not very useful.
If you have ever attempted to build a file-folder structure to organize files, the categories and structure are very dependent upon the questions being asked (do I structure conference presentations by time&date, by topic, by association hosting the conference?) If I am only concerned with the force an object subjects the ground to, I need only concern myself with weight. If I consider accelerating a spaceship to the moon, then I might be better off considering mass.
What of all the categories 'out there' that we have not yet identified? Do they exist 'out there' now?
To answer your last question - I consider 'characteristics' something different than 'categories'. Categories can change based upon the question and perspective of the person involved. Characteristics tend to remain the same even from different perspectives. However, even characteristics have their limits, especially if we move up or down in scale relative to an object. Measuring the area of a table is straight forward at our scale. It becomes a different matter at the molecular or atomic scale. The same can be said of many characteristics at our scale (even mass). So scale introduces different perspectives - even different objects - at different scales.
Can we measure the distance between the surface of the table and a molecule of a pen sitting on the table? Do these characteristics make sense when we cross many levels of scale? Many of the characteristics we have identified only work in certain situations and/or scales.
I will note that if we truly live in a three dimensional physical space, then this distance measurement should be easy and 'characteristics' should only involve levels of accuracy across scale (not what we have found, with tissue, cells, proteins, molecules, atoms, etc.). Consider that scale introduces a direction of space that different objects exist along (even at the same 3-D position), which changes the concept of a characteristic at one scale or another.
You seem to get physical determinism from mathematical determinism. But mathematical theories can be stochastic. Probability is a mathematical concept. Sure, 2+2 is always 4, but why can't mathematical probabilities make the physical world uncertain?
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Donald Palmer
Thanks for your reply. You say: “all categories we deal with are of human construction that deal with human questions and perspectives”. But right now in 2023, it is apparent that a lot of nonsense, and fake ideas and fake questions about the world, occurs in the human imagination. So, on what basis can you say anything at all about the world? What are the characteristics of what actually does exist, as opposed to the potentially fake ideas that exist in the human imagination?
I agree with you that what doesn’t actually exist in the real world are the symbols we use to represent the world. Though symbols are physical (i.e. written on physical paper; spoken using sound waves) the “symbol” part of a symbol only exists from the point of view of the human imagination.
But I contend that what does actually exist is: 1) consciousness including the human imagination; and 2) as opposed to the human imagination, physics has shown that the real world out there is inherently categorised, and that these categories are interrelated, and that there are aspects of the world that can be represented by number symbols.
How can you talk about things labelled “distance” and “scale”, when you don’t first acknowledge that:
- A distance (relative position) characteristic might exist in the real world as a genuine category of reality.;
- A distance characteristic might be inherently related to other characteristics of the real world (related in a way that can be represented mathematically);
- The number symbols acquired from distance measurement might represent a real-world number, as opposed to the numbers that might exist in the human imagination; and
- The number symbols acquired from distance measurement can only represent a real-world number, IF the number applies to a genuine real-world category and a genuine real-world relationship?
Does a direct relationship pathway actually exist between the large and the small scale, so that distance between the large and the small scale would have a genuine meaning? Or is there only smaller scale mass/ relative position/ charge/ etc. infrastructure that, logically conjoined, leads to the larger scale?
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Lorraine Ford
You appear to use the terms 'categories' and 'characteristics' in essentially the same way - so we appear to have different definitions (I do not use them the same way). So if I take your use of 'categories' to also mean 'characteristics' then when I use 'characteristics' you can also use 'categories' (although that does not work for me).
Assuming I am (mostly) correct on your use of terminology, then we appear to be saying similar things. We agree about 1) for sure. For 2) we can agree that there is a real world 'out there' that has characteristics (or your 'categories'). I would ask how 'physics has shown' anything about the real world out there? My response would say agreement with others is what has shown a real world exists 'out there'. Neither physics nor science can claim this of themselves, as I think the concept of an agreed world 'out there' significantly predates any concept of science. I would suggest that science grew out of an assumption that we can perform measurements and experiments on the world out there where different people would agree upon the results (the world out there being an assumption, not a demonstrable fact). This does not remove the abstract nature of our model of the 'world out there', nor of the mathematics we have devised to measure and experiment on this abstract model. And science does attempt to check our abstract models against our experience of the world out there. An adherence to checking model against 'out there' is part of the reason why science is a better methodology than mysticism or religion. The methodology does have limitations for singular events and internal subjective experiences.
The 'fake news' aspect comes from agreements between people that are not cross-checked against the world out there (or worse, the agreements are intentionally propagated knowing most people will not cross-check the statements). Good journalism and good science both have this cross-checking in common - 'fake news' does not or cherry picks the results to agree on. However the characteristics (or categories) are still human dependent - since they are defined by our sensory perceptions, which to date have a scale dependence on those perceptions.
I will agree that relative position implies, to a human, a distance between objects - however 'distance' implies a (human) measurement, while relative position does not. So they are not entirely equivalent concepts. Measurement requires a conscious mind and abstract model, while relative position can exist 'out there' as a characteristic.
So, while I can agree that the world out there has characteristics, the ones we measure are still human defined.
So I think I am saying that anything that we can measure and has mathematical representation (which are abstractions) presumes the abstract models we have in our minds and is not really in the world out there. With that said, in our daily lives we pretty much conflate the world out there with our abstract model of it and pay little attention to the abstractions and differences. And if most people (or most scientists) agree on an abstract model, it will be rather difficult to change that abstract model - even if with a better one.
Finally, if you are suggesting that there is "only smaller scale mass/ relative position/ charge/ etc. infrastructure that, logically conjoined, leads to the larger scale", then you have entirely bought into the abstract model and are no longer concerned with what your sensory perceptions tell you. There are articles that state 'You never actually touch anything, since atoms never actually touch' - cross-check this with your eyes touching another person or a window pane. If levels of scale fall along a distinct dimension, then both can be true - each at their own level (however this presumes a fourth spatial dimension - since different actions at different scales can occur at the same three-dimensional position). How do you explain how our scale humans created the LHC that manipulates the small scale? Does it all start with the cause at the small scale up to our scale and then back down to the small scale? How does this occur? Doesn't this also presume a dimension of scale that the cause moves up and down along?
I would go so far as to say that relative positions and actions at different scales, even appearing to be at the same position from the point of view of one scale, are characteristics of the world out there. Being able to measure the distance between these positions appears to be a limitation of our models and/or mathematics, since our mathematics is currently unable to provide a single value measurement of such a distance at this time.
“… if you are suggesting that there is "only smaller scale mass/ relative position/ charge/ etc. infrastructure that, logically conjoined, leads to the larger scale", then you have entirely bought into the abstract model and are no longer concerned with what your sensory perceptions tell you.”
The information we acquire via our senses is pretty basic low-level stuff, e.g. light wavelength. This has to be built into a bigger picture by the senses and/or the mind, and only then could it become “what your sensory perceptions tell you” about oneself and the surrounding world. This bigger sensory picture is seemingly not the numerical result of a big equation, but the logical conjoining of a lot of smaller fragments of information. This seems to indicate that there exists an aspect of the world that can only be symbolically represented by logical connectives. And I think that you already assume that a very fundamental thing called “logic” must exist.
“agreement with others is what has shown a real world exists 'out there'”
I think that, as opposed to the fantastical ideas that can exist in the imagination, in many ways physics has correctly modelled the real world “out there”, e.g. the missions that have been sent to Mars confirm that the modelling is pretty good. So, using logic, I contend that, as a result of physics’ research and modelling, the 3 essential types of information that are seen to characterise the real physical world are categories like mass and momentum, relationships between these categories, and the numbers that are associated with the categories. (By contrast, a world couldn’t be built out of numbers alone because a lone number without an accompanying category, and without an inherent relationship to other such categories, is entirely useless and meaningless as a source of information.)
“Measurement requires a conscious mind and abstract model, while relative position can exist 'out there' as a characteristic”
I disagree. Because it is not enough for the 3 basic, essential types of information needed to construct a physical world (categories, relationships, numbers) to merely exist: for the world to function, there must also exist a knowledge component, whereby the world knows these essential aspects of the world (panpsychism).
Re small scale and large scale and scale in general: I think it all depends on first investigating how the world is constructed and held together, especially when it comes to the case of living things.
Lorraine Ford The human imagination exists in the universe. Human imagination is limited to the forms and structures available to that universe. we cannot imagine what we cannot imagine, and we cannot imagine what the universe, what our experience does not provide reference for. I challenge you to examine your imaginary worlds closely.
The numbers, numbers and their prime factorizations, are those parts. And the universe is all the arrangements and relationships between those parts.
Everything is either number, (Mathematical monism,) or everything is number and something else not number. Or everything is not number, but mathematics seems to be "unreasonably effective." How can I describe it if it's indescribable. How can we account for its action, if we cannot describe its action? And if we describe its action with number ,how is it necessary to postulate this other non-number part.?
I mean, it didn't work for God. Why should it work for anything else?